Child of Time: The Pendragon Line

Part 2: Cold Coffee

Merlin, Galahad and Lancelot.

These were names from a children's story book or Disney movie. Not the type of name you would find very legitimately on a driver's license. But then again, some parents can be cruel when it comes to naming their unfortunate offspring.

"Uh, hello" I said shaking his hand. The other two, Lancelot and Galahad made their way over across the boardwalk, never once taking their hands off the hilt of their swords.

"My names Archer are you lost or something, if you follow the path you should be able to find your way out of the park in no time, there's a 7/11 that I'm sure must have a phone."

"Lost? We're not the ones lost lassie" Galahad stood, scraping mud off of his boot along the lower side of the boardwalk. Each of the men was absolutely soaked, muddy and looked less than thrilled about it.

A couple of nearby geese snipped angrily at his heel, flapping their wings and honking.

Galahad snorted at the geese and continued to clean his boot until a large chunk of grime plunked from his heel and into the lake.

The water splashed and rippled creating waves that glowed yellow and pink in the light.

I stared at the waves hypnotically, something was off. As the ripples grew further the waves grew larger. I've never seen the water react that way before. Yes, something obviously wasn't right.

The two geese hissed at the rode wave after wave and they traveled higher and higher, until even the stubbornness of the great Canadian birds gave in and they hastily flew away.

The colours began to swirl into a rapidly growing whirlpool, by now both Galahad and Lancelot stood ready with their swords drawn. These were not a LARPers weapon; these were real, glistening steel.

"Archer, you may want to leave now, it looks like we have visitors." Merlin drew from his belt a small golden dagger, "It was very nice meeting you, I suggest you go that way."

"But watch the mud" Said Galahad, keeping his eyes on the now, ever growing, vortex of water.

With a calm grin and a hand on each of my shoulders, Merlin gently turned me towards the direction I had originally came and gave me a light shove. Silently he whispered words in an odd, throaty language and the next thing I knew, I was standing dazed just outside the park entrance.

There I stood in the breeze of the rushing traffic as I stood on the sidewalk clutching a cup of cold coffee.

Had I been standing here the entire time? Was I daydreaming?

"What a waste of coffee", I sighed, breathing in the oddly calming car smog.

Slowly I turned to the entrance of the park.

There, tied to the posts of the wooden archway was a string of yellow construction tape. In the distance, two figures could be seen laying fresh cement.

Had this always been here? Was my complete obsession with caffeine finally taking it's toll? Was I suffering from a "Coffee-Overdose". No, that I can't be it. I refuse to believe that something so magical, and orgasmicly fantasic could ever hurt me. Coffee and I had a special bond that could never be broken. I wouldn't let it.

As I glanced down at my green mystery-foam-god-knows-what-its-made-of Coffee cup, my eyes caught a glimpse of the watch I always wore on my wrist. It read 11:00AM.

I swore loudly, I was late for work and with the construction going on in the park I would have to run the long way around the green space. I must have been standing there, staring off into space like an idiot for at least a couple of hours.

Putting my daydream aside, unhappily, I began the long jog the long, winding way to work.

As I glanced down at my green mystery-foam-god-knows-what-its-made-of Coffee cup, my eyes caught a glimpse of the watch I always wore on my wrist. It read 11:00AM.

I swore loudly, I was late for work and with the construction going on in the park I would have to run the long way around the green space. I must have been standing there, staring off into space like an idiot for at least a couple of hours.

Putting my daydream aside, unhappily, I began the long jog to work.

Thankfully, my boss was super understanding.

She really didn't mind my morning tardiness. I was early every single day for five years, so in her eyes, I had more than earned a mulligan. At least this once.

After grovelling some more and tearing up with gratitude I got down to business.

The work was a busy kind of work, every second in the office or the gallery was a little different than the last and I absolutely loved it. Hours would fly past and soon it was an hour past closing and I was ready to call it a night.

Outside of the office window I watched as the sun began to set, leaving rippling pink reflections across the lake. Shadows of birds flew off into the distance, going back to their warm little nests for the night.

It reminded me of my daydream and how stupid I was for getting so sucked into a momentary thought.

Once my boss had left for the day I locked up the gallery and began to make my way home.